A Clear Purpose
I left Hephaestus's temple.
Looking down at the recording device he'd given me — a camera, essentially — I turned it over in my hands. It was the kind of magical imaging tool that showed up all the time in fantasy novels, though the buttons arrayed across it had a distinctly modern feel.
"Well, damn."
Satisfying his lust by watching other people's sex videos. That alone told me just how pitiful Hephaestus's situation was — a man who couldn't even masturbate.
If only to rescue one miserable guy, I decided to grant his request. And on top of that, he was an absolute ally who would keep supporting me for as long as I needed him.
"This is going to be incredible."
Before leaving the temple, I'd already placed a few commissions with him. Hephaestus had asked detailed questions about each item's purpose, and once he understood everything, he'd thrown himself into the work with pure enthusiasm. Being a god, he might well work through the night without sleep.
Hmm. Some lube would be nice, too.
Should I go find Dionysus?
Aphrodite had told me most of her potions and compounds could be bought from him. Ah, but I really didn't want to face that bastard…
Maybe I should just ask Hecate if she can make some?
So I went looking for the cabin.
"I can't do it."
Hecate told me this while tinkering with one experiment after another.
"If I figured out the manufacturing method, I could manage somehow. But recreating that sticky, slippery liquid you're asking for is difficult."
I propped my chin on my hand and watched her.
"You really can't do it?"
"That's right."
"Really, really?"
"I already said so, didn't I?"
"I never knew my teacher was this powerless."
At the word teacher, Hecate flinched. She looked down at me, her face flushed a deep red. It was a face that made me want to laugh on the spot.
"W-why are you staring at me and smiling like that?!"
Because you're cute, why else?
But if I said that to her face right now, there was no telling what I'd hear in return, so I kept quiet and behaved myself.
"What is that smile! Did you think I wouldn't notice just because you're sitting there dumbly with your mouth shut?"
Haah. Seriously. So high-maintenance.
"Alright, alright, I get it."
I raised both hands in surrender.
"So if I bring back the recipe, that settles it, right?"
"I-I never said that!"
Hecate turned her head away, looking thoroughly embarrassed.
"A-as a teacher, I can hardly keep relying on my d-disciple forever!"
What was this? She'd been working me to the bone this whole time. And now she was saying this?
I leaned in suddenly.
"What exactly is going on?"
"Hweh?"
"What are you scheming inside that little head of yours?"
I tapped her forehead lightly with my finger. Hecate swatted my hand away with her flushed face — but there was no strength in the touch.
"Th-that's…"
"What's wrong?"
"D-don't come any closer!"
Honestly. She was just too cute.
Poke her and she reacted instantly — teasing her was half the fun. That petite frame suited this personality perfectly.
Ah.
I was getting hard.
"Hnn!"
Hecate flinched. She turned her head carefully, then dropped her gaze to my lower half. The part of me pressed flush against her back had swollen large enough that she could see it clearly.
"W-what is that? Why is it reacting all of a sudden?!"
"Because my teacher is beautiful."
Until now I'd been calling her Lady Hecate. That form of address had shifted to teacher. And topping it off with a compliment about her looks sealed the deal.
"U-uuuuh…"
Hecate trembled, unable to pull free of my temptation no matter how she tried.
"Why are you squirming like a puppy that needs to pee?"
"Can you not use that vulgar language for once?!"
Hecate thumped my chest with her little fists. But those tiny hands barely hurt at all.
"Why do you keep teasing me like this?!"
"Well…"
I pinched her cheek and pulled it out.
"When you're this cute, what else am I supposed to do?"
"Nngh!"
Hecate squeezed her thighs together and rubbed them against each other. Something seemed to be dripping between them, though I couldn't see it clearly. Probably because of the time she'd been with me before. We'd never properly finished, leaving things unsatisfyingly incomplete — so her frustration had been building up.
"H-Homeron…"
She clutched at my collar and spoke in a pleading tone.
Ah. Fully hard now. I wanted to push her down right here and take her.
"Teacher."
"Y-yes?"
"Not right now."
The disappointment on her face was unmistakable. I reached into my clothes and pulled something out.
Clink.
It was the recording device Hephaestus had given me.
"W-what is this?"
"A gift from Lord Hephaestus. Why don't you try it?"
Hecate rolled the crystal orb around in her palm several times, working the controls. The moment she grasped its function, her eyes went wide and round.
"W-what are you planning to do with this… Hyaaah!"
I seized one of her breasts in my hand and kneaded it firmly.
"We're going to record ourselves having sex."
"Haah, haaah…! Ahah!"
"But there's still one thing missing, you see."
I kept massaging her. As the caress continued, Hecate's breathing grew ragged. She shuddered and panted in my grip.
"So I'm thinking of going to Dionysus and getting what we need."
"B-but…"
"I'll find out everything."
I made the promise with absolute certainty.
"Whatever I can extract from him, I'll bring it all back to you, Lady Hecate."
Slowly, I dragged my tongue along the lobe of her ear. Hecate's eyelids fluttered, but she didn't refuse my touch.
"Dionysus. He's known as the god who governs wine and pleasure."
"Y-yes…"
"Lady Hecate."
I took the shell of her ear between my lips and bit down gently.
"Aaaahn…"
Hecate let out a cute little moan against my chest.
"Become my personal goddess of pleasure."
Hecate trembled. She set the recording device down on the table, then threw herself into my arms and kissed me.
The sticky, lingering kisses that followed felt almost like a lover's.
"Mmmn, Homeron…"
"Lady Hecate."
We called each other's names with tender little sounds. My head was spinning. The urge to pin her down and make her submit right then and there surged up inside me.
"Not yet. Not yet…"
I clung to the last fraying thread of reason and whispered against her throat, burying my face in the crook of her neck.
"This relationship of ours. If we want to keep it, things can't stay the way they are."
"Th-then…"
Only then did I speak my true intentions.
"I'm going to kill every last male god on Olympus."
Hecate drew a quiet breath. Her face was stunned — as if she'd never imagined I would say something like that.
"Why so surprised?"
"N-no. It's just…"
"There's nothing to worry about."
I stated it flatly. Firmer than ever before, gripping her wrist so she couldn't give in to fear.
"I'm going to do something no one in history has ever managed."
I was tired of being hunted. Tired of being toyed with by the gods. If that was the alternative, I'd rather stand and fight.
Countless heroes and countless ordinary humans had been toyed with by the gods and resigned themselves to it as something inevitable. I would not.
Was it because I was a reincarnator? Or because of the Status Window? I didn't know. Maybe all of this baseless confidence came from that. But one way or another, the Status Window had chosen me, and here I stood — conquering goddesses, scoring them, judging and sorting their worth.
A mere human, toying with goddesses. That power was mine now.
"If not me, then who?"
Hecate gripped me with trembling hands, clearly full of the urge to stop me. But when she opened the eyes she'd squeezed shut, her expression was full of quiet affection.
"Yes. If it's you, you might actually do it."
Hecate took my face in both hands.
"But no one has ever brought revolution to Olympus. Everyone who tried was corrupted by it."
A sorrowful look gathered at the corners of her eyes.
"From the age of Uranus through Cronus and on to Zeus — three generations of Olympus. The eras ruled by those masters stretched on forever."
Gaia had rebelled against it and failed. She'd lost to Uranus, then to Cronus, then to Zeus. Three consecutive failures, and in the end Zeus had sealed her inside the body of some other goddess.
"And you're saying you can do it?"
Hecate asked, worried.
"Are you sure you won't fall?"
I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them. When I spoke, my voice carried a hard, deliberate will.
"A world anyone can challenge."
"Hm?"
"As long as someone sits on the throne of the gods — human or divine — let anyone come for it."
I spoke quietly.
"I'll make the seat of Olympus something that can change at any time. Something anyone can claim."
I raised my fist.
"A world where humans can challenge the gods."
Yes. That was what I truly wanted in this place. Maybe that had been the root reason I'd been conquering goddesses all along.
"By defeating Zeus and taking that seat myself."
No more shrinking back. No more being swept along in front of the gods.
"So that humans can stand tall as humans."
That was the goal that had solidified the moment Zeus started hunting me for his own desires.